New Research Explores the Value of Data to Women’s Financial Inclusion

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Governments and agencies around the world are increasingly prioritizing full financial inclusion of women, but moving the needle is impossible without data on how many women actually have access to financial services and through what channels. The Global Banking Alliance for Women (GBA), in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Data2X, today is releasing a draft report for public comment, based on interviews with over 50 regulators, policymakers, International Finance Institutions (IFIs) and bankers from around the world that reveals just how this data could inform better policies and prompt the private sector to take on this missed market opportunity

The Value of Data to Women’s Financial Inclusion” is the outcome of a 2014 commitment the GBA and IDB made to Data2X, an initiative of the UN Foundation founded by Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2012. The document not only makes the case for data, but also shares many of the challenges to its collection and use, from lack of awareness of its need to inadequate Management Information Systems in banks and regulatory constraints in many markets that make it more difficult for banks to collect sex-disaggregated data – and thus prove the business case internally for serving women.

Creating a gender-inclusive society in all areas, from access to financial services and education to health outcomes, requires that we have the data to measure the gender gaps.

“Data not only measures progress, it inspires it,” Secretary Clinton said at the Data2X event. “We believe that if more and better data gets collected, we’ll see more progress in tackling these kinds of problems.”

The draft report will be launched at the GBA’s Annual Summit taking place in São Paulo, Brazil, Sept. 29 – Oct. 1 and hosted by GBA member Itaú Unibanco. The event is the only banking conference that focuses exclusively on how financial institutions can tap the power of the Women’s Market.